Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating The Future: Language Learning, Career Readiness, And Professional Identity, Maria Shardakova, Rebecca Cravens

Russian Language Journal

The decline in Russian language enrollments reflects a broader trend of diminishing confidence in higher education, particularly in the humanities and language studies. Many Americans question whether an undergraduate degree effectively prepares students for meaningful careers, fueling skepticism about the value of language programs. Meanwhile, the job market has undergone significant shifts, with fewer lifelong careers and more frequent job transitions. In this evolving landscape, graduates must develop not only professional skills but also career management skills, including the ability to envision career paths, articulate their qualifications to employers, and construct compelling professional narratives.This longitudinal study examines the effectiveness of …

An Integrative Approach To Professionalizing Russian Language Learning And Teaching, Victoria Hasko, Olga Thomason, Alexandra Shapiro

Russian Language Journal

This article proposes an integrative framework for embedding career readiness into advanced Russian language teaching. Drawing on the experience of a U.S. Russian Flagship Program, the authors argue that career readiness requires deliberate programmatic choices: a proficiency level sufficient for meaningful disciplinary engagement and study abroad immersion; a flexible open-architecture curriculum that admits interdisciplinarity into the core of the program; faculty preparation that makes embedded career advising possible; and institutional partnerships that give language work standing in professional contexts. Framed through the Connections standard of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, the article positions interdisciplinary engagement not as an enrichment …

Russian As A Lingua Franca In A Security Cooperation Context: Designing Career-Oriented Language Training Programs, Daniel Medford

Russian Language Journal

As Slavic language programs seek to align their curricula with workforce needs, the role of Russian and other Slavic languages in military and government service presents unique challenges and opportunities. This paper examines how linguistic training, particularly in Russian, can be better structured for students at American universities and colleges who wish to pursue government and security-related careers. Drawing on 30 interviews with native and non-native Russian speakers serving in the U.S. Army, this study explores the implications of using Russian as a lingua franca for U.S. military cooperation with former Soviet states. Given the political sensitivities surrounding the Russian …

Building An Alumni Network: Strategies And Benefits, Emily Johnson, Elena Carmichael

Russian Language Journal

This article explains how to build an alumni network and describes the benefits of such initiatives. Echoing the 2024 “Report on English Majors’ Career Preparation and Outcomes” prepared by the ADE Ad Hoc Committee on English Majors’ Career Preparation and Outcomes, it argues that providing students with regular opportunities to hear from and interact with program alumni offers tangible benefits in terms of career preparation. By attending Zoom and in-person alumni career talks, students can learn about the diverse range of jobs where language and literature majors can achieve success. The chance to speak one-on-one with an alumnus/alumna with similar …

What Do Learners Do With A Foreign Language After Their Studies? A Survey Of Alumni Of A Russian Summer Immersion Program, Dmitrii Pastushenkov, Liya Zalaltdinova, Jason Merrill

Russian Language Journal

Responding to concerns about the long-term value of foreign language education, this exploratory survey-based study examines how Russian language learners (N = 321) continued to use the language after completing a summer immersion program. The study investigates language use in personal and professional contexts and identifies resources alumni used, recommended, and needed to maintain proficiency. Although opportunities for conversational practice were limited, and interaction in Russian was one of the activities alumni needed but often viewed as unattainable, about 60% of participants continued using Russian at least occasionally. Among those employed full time, 24% used Russian frequently, primarily in …

How Esl/Efl Textbooks Are Created: A Description Of The Publishing Processes For Elt Coursebooks, Timothy P. Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the current ELT textbook publishing processes and evaluate a descriptive model of the publishing processes. While criticisms of ELT textbooks abound (Akbari, 2008; Bell & Gower, 2011; Jordan & Gray, 2019; Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2008; Long, 2016; etc.), little previous research has focused on describing the ELT textbook publishing. This is despite most criticisms appearing to focus on aspects of ELT textbooks that come about during the publishing processes. The work of Littlejohn (1992), McGrath (2013), and Yildiz and Harwood (2023) are exceptions to this. To provide additional descriptive information on the …

Receiving Isaac Again: Joy And Return To The Finite In Fear And Trembling, Jeffrey M. Matheson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that joy is a constitutive but underexamined feature of faith in Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. While the text is often interpreted through sacrifice, silence, dread, paradox, and the teleological suspension of the ethical, these categories do not exhaust Johannes de Silentio’s account of Abraham. By foregrounding Abraham’s joy, this thesis shows that faith is not merely the willingness to surrender the finite, but the capacity to receive the finite again after it has been given up. Isaac is not only Abraham’s beloved son, but the child of promise, the visible form of God’s covenant, and the …

Navigating The Cocoon: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Mothers’ Experiences Of Seeking Diagnosis And Services For Children With Disabilities In Insular Rural American Samoa, Elizabeth Cutrer, Ocean K. Akau, Lorena Seu, Isabel Medina Hull, G. E. Kawika Allen, Ofa H. Kanuch, Cameron W. H. Hee, Melia Fonoimoana Garrett

Faculty Publications

This study examines how mothers raising children with disabilities in American Samoa experience the processes of seeking diagnosis, navigating special education, and advocating for services within an insular rural context. American Samoa, an unincorporated U.S. territory located 2600 miles from Hawaiʻi with a population under 50,000, represents a case of what we term insular rurality—a condition in which the structural disadvantages of rurality are intensified by oceanic isolation, territorial governance, and colonial history. Data were collected through three focus groups with fifteen mothers whose children hold a range of disability diagnoses, with a card sort activity at the outset of …

An Analysis Of Heat Spread Through Smoldering Pine Needles, Timothy Keith

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to calculate the average speed of flame spread through smoldering pine needles. We present two different models for doing this: the first is a very large system of ODEs meant to represent the spread of flame through individual needles, the second is a macroscopic model based on the porous medium PDE. Simulations are run for each of these models and compared to each other as well as to existing models and experimental results.

Split Alliance And Relationship Satisfaction In Couples Therapy: Examining Split Alliance As A Process Variable, Kyla Yetter

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined how different patterns of alliance development impact couples' relationship satisfaction, with a particular emphasis on split alliances. The retrospective sample of 1149 couples was taken from the IRB approved Marriage and Family Therapy Practice Research Network. Alliance was measured at each session with the Intersession Alliance Measure- Couples version (IAM-C). The outcome variable, relationship satisfaction, was measured before the first and last sessions of therapy with the Couple Relationship Scale (CRS). Split alliance was operationalized using standard deviation differences in partners' alliance scores, and couples were divided into three groups: 1) Never had a split alliance, …

Likes, Lies, And Body Esteem: The Moderating Effects Of Age, Concealment, And Gender Between Social Media And Body Esteem For Utah Adolescents, Talise Hirschi

Theses and Dissertations

Social media use has become common among adolescents and contains many messages about one's body such as the thin and muscular ideal. Many parents are learning how to help their adolescent learn how to use social media, and some adolescents may conceal their social media use for various reasons. 588 adolescents (ages 11-18; 77% White; 55% female) from Utah filled out surveys about their social media use and body esteem each school year. In a two-wave cross lag panel model, specific aspects of social media use such as time spent on social media, problematic media use (PMU), and social media …

This One's For The Girls: Co-Creating A Social Confidence Group Intervention For Autistic Adolescent Girls, Kendra Noelle Zitzman

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have been completed regarding social confidence-building interventions for individuals with autism. However few studies have studied autistic females' experience with social confidence and targeted interventions for their unique needs. The purpose of this study was to co-create a social confidence curriculum with adolescent and young adult autistic females based on their experiences, perceived strengths and weaknesses, and goals. We analyzed first-person experiences and perceptions about social confidence-building interventions and supports. We used pre- and post-group interviews of the adolescent autistic participants (n =11) and college-aged mentors (n = 4), pre- and post-group measures with the Social Responsiveness Scale, …

Beyond The Bell Curve: Understanding Native American Academic Placements, Sarah-Margaret Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined biases regarding the referrals that teachers make regarding student placement recommendations for Native American students. Special education teachers (n = 97) from around the United States completed a digital card sort task involving 24 fictitious student record cards. The student record cards contained subtle information about the ethnicity of the student, as indicated through the use of racial identification (Native American, Asian, or White) on the student records and the use of student names that may be associated with these three categories. Academic information was equal among each of these three groups. Each group contained identical male …

Calibration And Validation Of An Ogden Material Model For Thermoplastic Polyurethane In 3d-Printed Tensegrity Structures, Caleb C. Swain

Theses and Dissertations

This work is motivated by ongoing efforts within the Smart Materials, Adaptronics, and Shock Laboratory (SMASH Lab) at Brigham Young University (BYU) to develop variable-stiffness, external fixators using 3D-printed tensegrity structures. In the process of designing and evaluating these systems, the need arose to accurately model the nonlinear mechanical behavior of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), the primary material used in prototype fabrication. This thesis investigates how accurately a calibrated Ogden material model can predict the nonlinear mechanical response of TPU in 3D-printed tensegrity structures. Experimental data were used to calibrate the parameters of the hyperelastic constitutive model through nonlinear optimization. An …

Engineering 3d Optical Interconnects And Low-Power Radio Frequency Gaze Tracking, Blake P. Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two independent research works in optical in- terconnects and radio-frequency (RF)-based gaze tracking. The first work demonstrates a silicon optical waveguide fabricated from four through-silicon vias (TSVs) produced using two-photon-absorption- assisted photo-electrochemical etching. Unlike conventional TSV fabrica- tion methods, this approach enables highly localized, non-line-of-sight etching in silicon using a focused femtosecond laser. Four approximately 5 μm diameter TSVs were etched through a 200 μm silicon wafer in a 7 μm by 7 μm pattern, leaving a central silicon region that functions as a waveguide. The fabricated structure achieved an aspect ratio of approxi- mately 40:1 with …

Hierarchical Parcel Swapping: A Novel Model In Turbulence, Masoomeh Behrang

Theses and Dissertations

Turbulent mixing plays a central role in a wide range of engineering and natural systems, particularly in reactive flows where turbulence--chemistry interactions strongly influence reaction rates, flame structure, and emissions. Accurately modeling these interactions remains a major challenge due to the multiscale and stochastic nature of turbulence, as well as the nonlinear coupling between transport and chemical kinetics. This dissertation develops and evaluates the Hierarchical Parcel Swapping (HiPS) model, a fully stochastic framework designed to represent turbulence-driven transport and scalar mixing without relying on traditional gradient-based closures. HiPS is investigated both as a standalone turbulence model and as a subgrid …

The Efficacy Of Open Educational Resources On Achievement Outcomes In Higher Education Institutions, Charles Trevor Alder

Theses and Dissertations

Achievement gaps remain a concern in higher education, reflected in differences in academic performance, retention, and persistence. These gaps often affect students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and underserved populations. Open educational resources (OER) have been suggested to reduce financial barriers and support student success. This study examined whether student-level and institutional-level factors predict academic performance in a business management course using OER. Average quiz scores were collected from students across 12 higher education institutions and analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Colleges were included in the analysis to determine whether outcomes differed based on the proportion of minority and Pell-eligible students. …

Fear Appeal Advertising As A Tool For Preventative Medicine And Chronic Disease Mitigation, Samuel J. Moore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Chronic disease refers broadly to a group of diseases that develop and progress as individuals age, that last 1 or more years, and that require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living, or both (“About chronic diseases,” 2026). Chronic disease is most often associated with years of compounding effects of poor nutrition and physical inactivity. Since negative emotion-based advertising, also known as “fear campaigns,” have been shown to be effective forms of communication for other health related topics (Huang et al, 2017), we sought to test a fear campaign’s potential to discourage unhealthy physical activity practices in young …

Exploring The Relationship Between Body Composition, Bmi, And Sleep Outcomes Among Nepalese Brick Workers, Zoe C. Peterson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sleep is a critical determinant of metabolic health, with extensive evidence linking insufficient and fragmented sleep to increased adiposity and obesity risk in high-income populations. However, these relationships remain poorly understood in labor-intensive, low-income occupational settings. This study examined associations between objectively measured sleep characteristics using accelerometry and body composition among a population of Nepalese brick workers, a group of people exposed to substantial environmental and occupational stressors.

A secondary cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from 233 adult brick workers in the Nepal Kathmandu valley. Sleep metrics – including total sleep, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and number of …

What Do Highly Successful Families Of Faith Teach Us About Trust?, Caleigh E. B. Kerr

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examined trust among diverse families of Abrahamic faiths across the United States. The 292 families who were part of this national study represent significant religious breadth (over 20 total denominations), geographic scope, and racial diversity, with 51% of the participants being racial/ethnic minorities. Married participants had at least one child. Education levels of participants ranged from G.E.D to Ph.D., with varying socioeconomic statuses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. Couples were hand-chosen by their respective religious leaders as being both relational and religious exemplars.

Using the qualitative responses of participants, a word search was conducted. Responses relevant to …

The European Union As A Blueprint: Can Its Success Guide Southern Africa’S Trade Bloc Integration?, Karen Francisca Makasi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines whether the European Union’s experience with regional integration can serve as a useful guide for strengthening the Southern African Development Community (SADC). While the EU is often viewed as one of the most successful models of regional cooperation, this paper argues that it should not be treated as a direct template for Southern Africa. Instead, the EU offers lessons that must be adapted to SADC’s political, economic, and institutional realities. Through comparative analysis, the thesis explores how the EU developed stronger supranational institutions, enforceable legal mechanisms, shared market rules, and funding structures that supported deeper integration among …

Improving Cluster Expansion Efficiency And Generalizability, Samuel D. Bills

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The cluster expansion (CE) method is a powerful framework for modeling alloy systems by linking atomic configurations to thermophysical properties. However, constructing accurate and robust CE models requires careful selection of both training structures and cluster bases. In this work, we investigate how structure enumeration and cluster selection strategies influence CE performance in binary face-centered cubic alloys using a Julia-based implementation. Model performance is evaluated using empirical risk and the generalized aliasing decomposition (GAD), which provides insight into the relationship between model complexity and generalization error. We find that physically motivated selection strategies that prioritize small clusters consistently outperform approaches …

Don't Self-Opt Out Of Career Opportunities: Proceed With Confidence, Valerie Mendoza

Faculty Publications

While reflecting on your career in the past, have you ever stepped back from an opportunity that you wanted because you doubted yourself? In the workplace, confidence often gets mistaken for competence, and that means talented employees can be overlooked simply because they hesitate. The truth is that confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s a skill you can build. This session will get you started on building that skill.

We’ll explore practical strategies to strengthen your confidence starting today. We’ll also break down the key differences between how confident individuals act compared to those who aren’t, so you can …

Differentiation Of Self As A Therapist Effect In Couple Therapy, Nathan D. Knebel

Theses and Dissertations

Murray Bowen proposed that a therapist's level of differentiation of self influences therapeutic effectiveness, particularly in clinically distressed relational systems. Although existing literature has demonstrated that therapist effects account for a meaningful portion of variance in couple therapy outcomes, differentiation of self has received limited empirical attention as a therapist-level predictor. The present article proposes a framework for empirically examining Bowen's hypothesis by investigating whether therapist differentiation predicts trajectories of couple relationship quality across treatment. Additionally, the article explores theoretical pathways through which therapists may increase their level of differentiation, assuming Bowen's hypothesis is supported.

Collaborative Practices Of School-Based Professionals In Conducting Multilingual Assessments, Megan Buckley

Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluates the perceived best practices and current actual practices of school-based professionals in interprofessional collaboration and in conducting multilingual assessments. The participants consisted of 341 professionals from across the United States in the following groups: speech language pathologists (SLPs), assistants, special education teachers, general education teachers, specialists, school psychologists, and administration. Participants responded to an online Qualtrics survey with a total of 74 possible items regarding demographics, caseload, multilingual assessment practices and beliefs, and interprofessional collaboration practices and beliefs. Results were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicate that participants recognize the need for interprofessional collaboration …

Developing Custom High Resolution 3d Printers For Microfluidic Device Fabrication, Dallin Scott Miner

Theses and Dissertations

The advancement of microfluidics in biomedical diagnostics and lab-on-a-chip systems is increasingly dependent on the ability to fabricate complex, three-dimensional architectures with high-resolution negative features. While Digital Light Processing Stereolithography (DLP-SLA) has emerged as a leading fabrication method, it remains constrained by a fundamental trade-off between feature resolution and build volume, as well as challenges regarding fabrication consistency and design accessibility. This dissertation presents an integrated ecosystem of hardware, materials, and software designed to overcome these barriers and enable scalable, high-resolution microfluidic fabrication. We first introduce a novel multi-resolution 3D printing technique utilizing a dual-optical engine architecture, comprising a Very …

Speech Motor Variability In Typical Speakers With Blocked, Predictable, And Unpredictable Stimulus Order, Jocelyn L. Turley

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect on spatiotemporal variability of speech in reading threesyllable, five-syllable, and eight-syllable phrases in blocked, predictable, or unpredictable order. This was done to address the need in the field for a greater understanding of the interactions of stimulus length and stimulus presentation order. The experiment was completed with 35 typically speaking young adult participants. Participants read variable stimuli in the different presentation orders to measure the spatiotemporal variability in different conditions with electromagnetic articulography and audio recording software tracking their speech. The statistical analysis main condition effect revealed a significant impact on all phrase lengths between …

Effects Of A Complexity-Based Approach For Treatment Of Be Verbs In Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Single-Case Design, Megan Shawnee Rowe

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine whether a complexity-based treatment approach improves the production of BE verb structures in a child with developmental language disorder (DLD). One school-age child with morphosyntactic deficits participated in a single-case AB experimental design. Treatment targeted a complex structure (auxiliary BE questions), and performance was measured using experimental probes, a narrative language sample, and the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI). Results indicate a functional relationship between treatment and increased accuracy of the treated structure, with a medium effect size (τ = .695, p = .019). In addition, the participant demonstrated generalization to …

Prosodic Characteristics Of People With Moderate Broca's Aphasia: Measures Of Pitch And Intensity, Morgan Smith Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

Aphasia is an acquired neurogenic language disorder commonly treated by speech language pathologists (SLPs). People with aphasia (PWA) experience various language deficits which impact their ability to effectively communicate with their environment. One of these deficits which impacts individuals with non-fluent aphasia is dysprosody. The purpose of this study is to acoustically evaluate the pitch and intensity of individuals with moderate Broca's aphasia along with age and gender matched control participants across a variety of task types in order to help SLPs better understand how to effectively assess and treat prosody in PWA. This study is an extension of Pickard …

Evaluating C-Band Scatterometer Images For Estimating Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest, Alex Mcbride

Theses and Dissertations

Satellite-based active microwave sensors have been successfully employed for a wide range of vegetation and soil studies. Spaceborne microwave instruments have proven particularly useful for wide-scale monitoring of the vegetation, especially under conditions that limit the effectiveness of high-resolution optical sensors. Satellite scatterometry can be used to detect and model deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by correlating changes in the C-band backscatter data to observed changes in vegetation coverage. The exploratory methodology developed in this paper applies the longest continuous microwave satellite record to the problem of deforestation. The backscatter measurements taken by the ERS and ASCAT missions provide more …